“300-Pound Vegan” David Carter Shares Meat-Free Tips on Beefing Up

The words “vegan” and “NFL player” don’t often appear in the same sentence, but defensive end David Carter is proving just how compatible the vegan diet can be with maintaining a (non-kicker) pro-football physique.

A post shared by David Carter (@iamdavidhcarter) on Jun 15, 2016 at 9:54am PDT

But after viewing the popular food doc Forks Over Knives, he “realized I was feeding all of my illnesses with the food I was putting in my body. My wife had been vegan for six years before me, so that had a lot to do with it, but I didn’t change until I began to educate myself.”

Now the 6’5″ footballer is a two-year vegan partnering with Vegan Outreach, “traveling the country as a public speaker and humane educator” and “focus[ing] much of my outreach to communities of color to create a more inclusive movement.”

As he shares in his AMA, he’s actively convincing other pro athletes to try eating vegan, educating the public on potential health benefits, and showing off his muscles as visual proof to debunk the ol’ “only meat has protein” stereotype.